Sax cleaning

[ken]

Hi all,

Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning/caring for a silver and gold plated sax... basically what kind of polish... if any?

Thanks,
Ken

 

[Pete Thomas]

At 01:59:10 AM 20/03/06, Ken wrote:
Hi all,

Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning/caring for a silver and gold plated sax... basically what kind of polish... if any?

I use Goddards silver polish on silver, but you need to disassemble at least partly to avoid getting any on the pads. if its a frosted finish you need to enjoy a lot of rubbing.

Best thing is to stop or slow the tarnishing in the first place, I like to use eCloths:

http://www.enviroproducts.co.uk/

They seem to do a very good job of light polishing with no products. Keep the horn in the case and wrapped in an eCloth, or you can sometimes get special tarnish reducing cloths from jewellery shops, but I'm not sure if they are any better.

Gold should stay gold I think. Just a light rub to keep dirt off

 

[ken]

http://www.enviroproducts.co.uk/

They seem to do a very good job of light polishing with no products. Keep the horn in the case and wrapped in an eCloth, or you can sometimes get special tarnish reducing cloths from jewellery shops, but I'm not sure if they are any better.

Gold should stay gold I think. Just a light rub to keep dirt off

Thanks Pete,

I'll give those a go.

Ken.

 

[lightbobarms]

How about a standard finish Yamaha 275? It came with a cloth. I got a couple of pullthroughs. I dry it with the pullthroughs and give it a wipe over with the polishing cloth. Anything else I should do?

 

[ken]

At 7:27:50 PM 20/03/06, lightbobarms wrote:
How about a standard finish Yamaha 275? It came with a cloth. I got a couple of pullthroughs. I dry it with the pullthroughs and give it a wipe over with the polishing cloth. Anything else I should do?

In addition to your kit Robert, I use Pad Savers, Villeda type cloth in the bell (to get the moisture that the pull thru misses) and a mpc brush to scrub off the calcium! build up.

A little unrelated, but I also have a couple of pieces of plate glass with sheet rubber between, which I use to store my reeds as they are drying. The theory being that the reeds dry flat and don't warp.

Ken.

 

[rebellion117]

I steam-clean my mouthpieces and necks regularly. I fill a teapot with water, set it to boiling, then hold the mpc's and neck in the steam. I then swab them out and let them dry.

A great way of removing calcium from mpc's and necks is to use regular cider vinegar. Take a paper towel and stuff it inside the neck/mouthpiece. Fill it up with the vinegar and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how bad the calcium buildup is. Whenh the time's up, take out the paper towel, rinse the mpc/neck out with fresh water a couple of times, then swab it and let it dry.

I did the same thing with the crook of my bari, because I've yet to find a bari swab. I closed up the pads around it with plastic cling wrap, then filled it with vinegar and let it sit for 30 minutes. I gave it a couple good rinsings, then let it dry. It sounded a whole heck of a lot better after the whole process.

don't worry about the vinegar hurting the metal, either. It's too weak of an acid to do any harm in 30 minutes to an hour. Watch out when cleaning hard rubber mouthpieces, though - some like to discolor to a nice olive green with the vinegar.

Cory

 

[ken]

At 7:56:52 PM 21/03/06, rebellion117 wrote:
I steam-clean my mouthpieces and necks regularly. I fill a teapot with water, set it to boiling, then hold the mpc's and neck in the steam. I then swab them out and let them dry.

A great way of removing calcium from mpc's and necks is to use regular cider vinegar.

I hadn't thought of steam cleaning, sounds like a good idea.

The vinegar trick I have read somewhere, if I remember it was also possible to increase the effect by warming up the vinegar before use.

I only have the standard "supplied" mpc's (ESM). Any thoughts on how the rubber bite guards cope with different cleaning methods... do they deteriorate, come un-stuck.

Ken.

 

[rs2sensen]

I've got an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner that I use on my ligature. I'm a bit afraid to use it on a mouthpiece, although the strength is weak enough it would most likely be fine. For now, mouthpieces just go in soapy water every couple weeks.

I use a pad saver on my Yamaha, but not on my Selmer. I also swab out both horns repeatedly after playing.

I use an alto pad saver in my soprano, by sticking it in the bottom of the horn, since my model doesn't have a removable neck, and I can't get a swab through.

I use a standard neck brush for both of the saxes.

On the Yamaha, I use yarn to clean between all of the bars and hard to reach place. I'm a bit afraid to do it on the Selmer, as I'd prefer not to deal with potential fibers.

I oil my keys on all of my horns once a month, and perform a cleaning then. I also use a polishing cloth daily.

 

[rebellion117]

About the bite guards:

Steam doesn't mess with the adhesive on bite guards. I have one on my metal Link. In fact, steam cleaning lets you clean all around it quite easily. I don't know what vinegar would do to it, although I'd presume it would be fine.

Cory

 

[griff136]

At 6:27:50 PM 20/03/06, lightbobarms wrote:
How about a standard finish Yamaha 275? It came with a cloth. I got a couple of pullthroughs. I dry it with the pullthroughs and give it a wipe over with the polishing cloth. Anything else I should do?

Lacquer can be brought to a nice shine by using a spray furniture polish like pledge or mr sheen (uk brand names) I like to spray the polish onto a lint free cloth/old T shirt material and then wipe over the lacquer. This way the chance of getting the polish onto the pads is minimised.

 

[ken]

At 9:27:50 PM 20/03/06, lightbobarms wrote:
How about a standard finish Yamaha 275? It came with a cloth. I got a couple of pullthroughs. I dry it with the pullthroughs and give it a wipe over with the polishing cloth. Anything else I should do?

I never really thought my pull thru was doing a lot of good at the bell end. I know you can buy pull thru's with foam/padding inserts to expand them, but I have recently started using two p.t's... one from each end.

I put the first in as normal and get the weight hanging out of the neck, cloth out of the bell, then I put the the second p.t cloth inside the first. I pull the first one up through the body until it starts to get tight and then pull the second p.t. out of the bell... sounds awkward but works real well.

 

[AlistairD]

At 4:30:19 PM 20/03/06, Pete wrote:
> At 01:59:10 AM 20/03/06, Ken wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning/caring for a silver and gold plated sax... basically what kind of polish... if any?

I use Goddards silver polish on silver, but you need to disassemble at least partly to avoid getting any on the pads. if its a frosted finish you need to enjoy a lot of rubbing.

Best thing is to stop or slow the tarnishing in the first place, I like to use eCloths:

http://www.enviroproducts.co.uk/

They seem to do a very good job of light polishing with no products. Keep the horn in the case and wrapped in an eCloth, or you can sometimes get special tarnish reducing cloths from jewellery shops, but I'm not sure if they are any better.

Gold should stay gold I think. Just a light rub to keep dirt off

I second the vote for e-cloths....